Close your eyes
by Xanabell
Summary: Why hasn't anyone done one of these yet? Anyway, AU! where Cassia doesn't exist. Ignatia and Milo fell in love against all the odds. They've been separated for 1927 years, but as the first great prophecy comes to pass, Ignatia questions the gods, and finds love in the most unexpected of places...


Close your eyes.

Disclaimer: Own nothing.

I know that I should be updating my other stories, but my parents banned me from all Tolkien for a year, and I've sortta been bogged down with school work. However, I came up with the concept for this in Ancient History, after we'd finished the Core topic aka Cities of Vesuvius: Pompeii and Herculaneum. And that no one's posted a PJO and Pompeii crossover.

PS: I'm trying to make the movie more accurate than what it was... my ancient class tore strips of itbecause of the historical inaccuracies, but it was still a good movie.

PPS: Oh, and I'm experimenting with a different style of writing. Let me know what you think!

* * *

><p>"Milo, because I saw you, I lost control of that entire volcano!" I yelled, tears making columns of cleanliness down my ash covered face.<p>

"It wasn't your fault, Ignatia!" Milo yelled back as he dragged me through the burning city. He'd managed to find me praying at the altar of my mother, begging for her assistance. He'd run from the Amphitheatre all the way into the forum and all the way up to the temple of the Capitoline Triad.

"It WAS! Now I wish Aquaria was here!" I yell, putting out as many small fires as I could.

As a Guardian of Olympus, I was sworn to do my duty, to preserve human life.

"We're going to the mountains!" Milo continued, picking me up and carrying my bridal style. I was unable to keep up with his long, adrenaline filled strides.

"No, Milo! YOU'RE going to the Apennine Mountains, I HAVE to stay here!"I replied

"You'll die!" He yelled, over the roar of the explosion.

"Fire cannot harm me! I'm a Goddess!" I yell back, hoping it would catch his attention, it was rare that any of us revealed what we truly were.

"Even more the reason!" He said, steps flattering for a mere second as we passed through the Triangular forum, heading towards Stabiae. Somehow, Milo had heard that Admiral Pliny's fleet was heading there.

"Milo, I love you, but you have to put me down!" I yell, punching his chest. This wasn't the first time I'd been faced with death. Once at Marathon, and I'd been the one who'd run back to Athens, Thermopylae and Salamis. Either way, Uncle Hades refused to let us die.

"No, Ignatia, we have to get out here!" Milo continued, I'd given up trying to break out of his grasp. He was a gladiator, and still, he kept running.

Now, if I'd been born Aquaria or Olive, I would've been able to create us a horse.

But, alas, my mother was Hestia.

Milo's strides for a second time.

Looking back at the mountain, I saw a second Pyroclastic surge come from the mountain. It was coming towards Pompeii.

"Milo, put me down, please!" I begged, he was breathing heavily. Heavier than what he should have been.

What surprised me was that he complied.

"We're not going to make it..." He huffed, his black curls nearly straight because of the sweat.

"Aurora! Uncle Zeus! Winds!" I call desperately trying-hoping that someone was listening.

"Not even your own family answers." Milo said, standing slowly.

"And your gods did!" I shoot back at him, "I have to try." I add as I noticed that he'd started coughing. There was ash or something forming on his lips. Gently, I raised my hand and brushed it off.

"Why... *Cough*... aren't you... *Cough*... coughing?" Milo asked, gently taking my hand as I looked at the ash.

"Milo, I'm a goddess, this doesn't affect me." I replied, gently leading him into one of the many mausoleums that lined the side of the road.

"Something's wrong with the air..." he rasped, as if he was explaining this to me.

"It's better in here though." I reasoned, glad that Julia Felix's family mausoleum had provided us with shelter.

"Is this how you thought you'd die?" Milo asked sitting down on a bench seat.

"No, I thought I'd die in Athens or Olympus. Looking at the acropolis, the Aegean or at the Mountain." I replied remembering my home. Aquaria, Aurora, Olive and I walking through the markets, swimming in the Aegean, training and talking with Chiron.

"I've already cheated death once. I can't cheat him again." Milo said, as I sat down next to him. I'd been readying myself to lose him when I got a note.

_-Run-_

They had heard. My family was going to rescue us!

"Thank you, Hermes." I breathed as I pulled Milo to his feet.

"Where are we going?"He asked in a daze.

There was gas in the air. It was the only logical reason I could come to.

"To run. My family came through" I replied, grabbing the reins of a stray horse and pushed Milo onto its back. Then vaulting myself after him, I gathered myself and galloped. As we reached a rise, I turned the horse to see a 3rd Pyroclastic surge sweep over the top of the mountain.

"No, Ignatia, we won't make it." Milo muttered from in front of me. He was slumping slightly and I had to constantly readjust my hands so that I always had a good grip on his torso.

"I can see a ship, Milo! We can make it!" I cried back, pushing some of his hair out of his face. The ground rumbled. The flow of Lava spilling over the town.

And then the horse threw us.

And the boat was only a few kilometres away!

"Ignatia! No matter what happens, I love you!" Milo said, we both were crying, and I treasured the touch of his palms on either side of my face. Pulling him closer, I kissed him.

I would be transported back to Olympus once the dust had settled, and I would be replaced with an image of the Mist.

The fire would not harm me.

Breaking the kiss, I placed an Athenian Drachma in his hand. The imperfect surface and the smooth edges, as well as the smallness of it in his hand, reminded me that nothing is forever.

It was my lucky drachma, the same coin I had on me during all the battle's I'd fought, but it was the only coinage I had. He knew what it was for, because he placed it on his tongue.

We hugged for what seemed like an eternity. I knew that it was only a few seconds, but we were content. I wanted him to be happy in his final moment.

The year was 79AD...


End file.
